Background
The Canon PowerShot A650IS was generally available as of September 2007. It is based on the Digic III platform and features the DRYOS OS. As of February 2008, builds of CHDK for the Canon A650IS camera are available.
For more information about the US version of this camera, see this page.
Canon A650 specification from dpreview.
Canon A650 features and specifications.
Firmware Version
Per the CHDK FAQ 1.3
Power on in PLAY mode with ver.req file on SD card, press and hold FUNCSET, press DISP reveals the firmware version. For example:
Canon PowerShot A650 IS P-ID:315B NT D Firmware Ver GM1.00D NoError Jul 6 2007 12:41:33
subsequent press of DISP (while still holding FUNCSET) reveals (for example):
Adj Ver.006.005
subsequent press of DISP (while still holding FUNCSET) reveals (for example):
IS Firm Ver. 3.01 IS Param Ver. 3.00
If you power on in PLAY mode without ver.req on the SD card and press the FUNCSET and DISP buttons simultaneously, the screen shows:
Firmware Ver. 1.0.0.0
[ OK ]
Subsequent presses of DISP have no effect. One must press FUNCSET to clear the screen (i.e. answer the OK).
Using the filename vers.req with the above sequence will replace the IS Firm version output with the total number of shots taken by the camera to date.
Firmware Update Menu Item
Create a file called PS.FI2 on the root of the SD card, power the A650IS on in Play mode, and press the menu button.
The menu now shows an extra option:
Firm Update...
Language Interface
User's manual p.14:
Set mode switch to PLAYBACK. Hold down FUNCSET and press MENU, this will brings up a menu where you can change the language interface for the camera. Use the direction button to select the language and press FUNCSET to accept the selection.
Other button sequences don't seem to do anything.
* Product Advisory *
Canon has issued a product advisory for the A650IS due to a fault with early production units suffering from a light leak when the back of the camera is in strong light with the LCD swung out. See this link for details: [A650IS Product Advisory]. The Advisory provides details of how to determine if a particular camera suffers from the problem and how to send affected cameras to Canon for repair.
LED Memory Addresses
The following LEDs are found by modifying the G7 blinker to try turning on LEDs at different addresses. This A650IS is an Australian model with the same firmware prompts as above, except with P-ID:315B NT D replaced by P-ID:315B PAL D.
0xC02200C0 AF beam 0xC02200C4 Blue 0xC02200C8 Orange 0xC02200CC Green 0xC02200D0 Yellow 0xC02200D4 Power (also green coloured)
diskboot.bin for firmware blinking
A650IS firmware blinker.[1] Made using the LED Addresses from this page and modifying tommi2water's S5IS blinker.
Firmware extracted
The A650IS firmware has been extracted using a universal dumper (writing to SD). It is available here.
Firmware available
The AllBest's Build for the A650IS is available.
Download from http://malbe.nm.ru/chdk/.
Then, from ewavr post:
- Make card bootable. Card must be FAT16 formatted.
- Copy diskboot.bin to card (ps.fir can be moved to trashcan :))
Note: for A650 the filename is PS.FI2 not PS.FIR
- Lock card by switch on it
- Insert card into camera and switch camera on.
- Enjoy!
Note: Manual loading of the CHDK firmware on the A650IS is not (currently) functional. You must use the bootable SD card method to get CHDK to install.